Wing Ceremony

Wing Ceremony
The start of the Wing Ceremony
First appearance	Skyward Sword (2011)
Country	Skyloft
Occurrence	Annual
Purpose	Promote the winner to senior class

"All set for today's big Wing Ceremony? If you come away with a win, you'll move on up to the senior class. Then after you graduate, you get to be a rescue knight. Those knights sure do keep order here in Skyloft, and I don't have to tell you that it's a pretty big deal to become one. I'd like to see you make it."

— Jakamar

The Wing Ceremony is an event from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. It is an annual tradition in Skyloft where students of the Knight Academy undergo tasks to prove their honor, bird-riding skills and the bond with their Loftwing. Link participates in the 25th anniversary of the academy. According to Horwell, only the winner takes another step towards Knighthood and is awarded a tunic of a certain color, unique each year. The student who manages to win the Wing Ceremony later performs a ritual with that year's goddess impersonator at the Statue of the Goddess. This year, Zelda plays the role of the goddess. Pipit won the ceremony in the 24th anniversary of the academy. Link did not compete against Pipit, as Pipit admits he would not have won had he faced Link and his Crimson Loftwing. Fledge, on the other hand, failed to make the cutoff for the ceremony.

Story

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Groose, Cawlin, and Strich try to sabotage Link by capturing and imprisoning his Crimson Loftwing beyond the Waterfall Cave. After obtaining a Practice Sword from Eagus, Link manages to rescue his Loftwing and is able to participate in the ceremony, which was delayed to give him time to find his Loftwing. Link wins the ceremony's competition by taking a Bird Statuette off a yellow Loftwing, which will happen no matter how much time Link takes to do so. When Link tries to grab the statuette for the first time, Groose, Cawlin, and Strich will start to throw eggs at him to interfere with his flight. Link must make a second attempt to grab the statuette to succeed.

Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.

References

In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the description of the Tunic of the Sky states that according to legend it was apparently presented to a hero to celebrate the completion of a ceremony referring to the Wing Ceremony and the Hero of the Sky being presented the tunic for completing it and being promoted to the senior class.